1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a paper discharge apparatus for issuing a piece of paper such as a receipt, a ticket, or the like, and a printer using the paper discharge apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
An apparatus for issuing a receipt, a ticket, or the like, is generally formed as follows. A long sheet of paper shaped like a roll is housed in the apparatus in advance. Printing is performed on the long sheet of paper in accordance with a print command given from an external host computer. Then, the long sheet of paper is cut into a predetermined length, so that the cut piece of paper is discharged from a vending port.
If a recipient pulls forcibly the piece of paper discharged from the vending port or blocks the vending port to disturb discharge of the piece of paper in the aforementioned issuing apparatus, the recipient""s behavior causes a print failure or paper jam. Therefore, a paper discharge apparatus has been employed in which a sheet of paper is temporarily kept in the inside of the apparatus before printing and cutting of the sheet of paper is completed, and then a leading edge of the sheet of paper is made exposed out of the vending port after the cutting is completed.
A paper discharge apparatus has been also employed in which a function of collecting a piece of paper into the inside of the apparatus after the passage of a predetermined time is added because leaving the piece of paper alone causes an obstacle to the next issuing operation when the piece of paper discharged from the vending port is forgotten.
Examples of the related background art have been disclosed in, for example, JP-A-1-181659, JP-A-5-43127, JP-A-8-169149, and JP-A-8-268638.
Paper provided from a paper roll generally has the tendency to curl. The curling condition such as the curling direction or the curling amount is varied according to various factors.
When the discharged paper is to be collected, a leading or trailing edge of the paper is apt to get entangled midway in accordance with the curling condition of the paper. For secure collection of the paper without dependence on the curling condition, it is therefore necessary to provide a conveyance mechanism and a paper path changing mechanism exclusively used for collection, a driving source such as solenoid exclusively used for collection, and so on. As a result, the apparatus increases in size or is complicated.
The present invention has been made under the above circumstances, and therefore an object of the present invention is to provide a paper discharge apparatus in which an operation of changing the direction of discharge of paper can be achieved in a simple structure, and a printer using the paper discharge apparatus.
In order to solve the above object, according to the present invention, there is provided a paper discharge apparatus comprising: a first guide portion by which a sheet of paper to be conveyed is guided along a first conveyance path; a second guide portion by which the sheet of paper guided by the first guide portion is guided along a second conveyance path inclined with respect to the first conveyance path; a reversible conveyance portion by which the sheet of paper guided by the second guide portion can be conveyed either forward or backward; and a third guide portion by which the sheet of paper conveyed backward by the reversible conveyance portion is guided along a third conveyance path different from the first and second conveyance paths.
According to the present invention, the sheet of paper guided by the first guide portion is guided by the second guide portion so as to be deflected from the first conveyance path. As a result, the sheet of paper reaches the reversible conveyance portion. In the reversible conveyance portion, the direction of discharge of the sheet of paper can be changed by a selective operation in accordance with forward conveyance or backward conveyance. When the reversible conveyance portion conveys the sheet of paper backward, the sheet of paper is guided along the third conveyance path different from the first and second conveyance paths by the third guide portion.
When, for example, a discharge port is disposed on an extension of the direction of forward conveyance in the reversible conveyance portion and a paper collection portion is disposed on an extension of the direction of backward conveyance in the reversible conveyance portion, forward conveyance permits a piece of paper to be issued and backward conveyance permits a piece of paper to be collected. Incidentally, configuration may be made so that the paper collection portion is disposed on an extension of the forward conveyance direction and the discharge port is disposed on an extension of the backward conveyance direction.
Alternatively, configuration may be made so that two discharge ports are disposed on extensions of the forward and backward conveyance directions respectively. Alternatively, configuration may be made so that two paper collection portions are disposed on extensions of the forward and backward conveyance directions, respectively.
As described above, the reversible conveyance portion is disposed in a position displaced from the first conveyance path. Further, the second guide portion is provided so that the paper conveyed along the first conveyance path is guided to the reversible conveyance portion by the second guide portion. Further, the third guide portion is provided so that the piece of paper conveyed backward by the reversible conveyance portion is guided along the third conveyance path by the third guide portion. Hence, the operation of changing the direction of discharge of paper can be carried out while the piece of paper is prevented from being conveyed backward to the first conveyance path. Hence, the conveyance mechanism and the paper path changing mechanism exclusively used for collection, the driving source such as solenoid exclusively used for collection, and so on, which have been required in the background art, become needless. Hence, reduction in size of the apparatus and simplification in configuration of the apparatus can be attained.
Further, according to the present invention, the reversible conveyance portion includes a first roller and a second roller between which the sheet of paper conveyed is held; and the first and second rollers are disposed so that a common line tangential to both the rollers crosses a paper guide surface of the third guide portion.
According to the present invention, the common line tangential to the first and second rollers, between which the piece of paper is held while conveyed, crosses the paper-guide surface of the third guide portion. Accordingly, when the piece of paper is conveyed backward, the piece of paper can be prevented securely from being conveyed backward to the first conveyance path because the trailing edge of the piece of paper abuts on the paper-guide surface of the third guide portion so as to be guided by the third guide portion.
Further, according to the present invention, the third guide portion is formed so as to be integrated with the first guide portion.
According to the present invention, the third guide portion is formed so as to be integrated with the first guide portion. Accordingly, reduction in the number of constituent parts can be attained. Because a front end portion of the third guide portion can be disposed to be near the first guide portion, the piece of paper can be led to the third conveyance path smoothly even in the case where the leading edge of paper has the tendency to curl.
Further, according to the present invention, the second guide portion includes a paper detection portion for detecting the passage of the sheet of paper.
According to the present invention, because the second guide portion is provided with the paper detection portion, the start point of time of the passage of paper and the end point of time of the passage of paper can be detected in the condition that the leading edge of the piece of paper and the trailing edge of the piece of paper approach the reversible conveyance portion as much as possible. Hence, the timing of controlling the operation of the reversible conveyance portion can be set accurately.
Further, the paper discharge apparatus according to the present invention further comprises: a loop housing portion in which slack of the sheet of paper to be conveyed is housed when the reversible conveyance portion stops conveying; a paper discharge portion by which the sheet of paper is discharged to the outside when the reversible conveyance portion conveys the sheet of paper forward; and a paper collection portion by which the sheet of paper is collected when the reversible conveyance portion conveys the sheet of paper backward.
According to the present invention, because the loop housing portion is provided for housing slack of the sheet of paper when conveyance stops, paper with a sufficient length can be temporarily kept before discharge. When, for example, paper having the tendency to be curled upward convexly is used, the loop housing portion is preferably disposed above the first conveyance path so that upward slack of the paper can be housed in the loop housing portion. Hence, stress imposed on the paper can be lightened, so that the paper can be prevented from being wrinkled, broken, bent, and so on.
Further, when the reversible conveyance portion conveys the paper forward, a piece of paper can be issued through the paper discharge port. When the reversible conveyance portion conveys the paper backward, the paper can be collected in the paper collection portion. The operation of changing over between issue and collection of the paper can be achieved in the aforementioned simple configuration.
Further, according to the present invention, there is provided a printer comprising: a paper conveyance portion for conveying a long sheet of paper; a print portion for performing printing on the sheet of paper; a cutter portion for cutting a printed piece of paper from the sheet of paper; and the paper discharge apparatus for issuing or collecting the cut piece of paper.
According to the present invention, a printer having a function of issuing a piece of paper while changing the print contents as required, and a function of collecting the piece of paper issued can be achieved in small-size and simple configuration.